The Young Lion

England lost.

A lackluster second half at St James' Park saw no score-changing goals and there was booing from the stands at the end of the game.

0:1.

England lost at home to World Cup qualifiers Finland.

It is understandable that the fans are dissatisfied. They think it is not worth buying tickets to watch the game. First of all, the fans are not satisfied that popular idol stars like Beckham and Irving did not appear on the stage. Secondly, the game was lost.

This is Aldridge's second defeat in coaching the national team. It was also in a friendly match. The last defeat was in Oslo more than half a year ago.

After the game, Aldridge came to the locker room and said to the group of players who played the game but lost the game and said: This game is lost and it is irreparable, but I hope you understand that what we are doing now Everything is preparing for the World Cup, don't be discouraged, we are not a perfect team, we have a lot to improve, this requires us to work together, every player, every coach, we work together, Trying to make the England team stronger before the World Cup. This failure, we found a lot of problems. This is a good sign. It is better to find problems now than to go to the World Cup. If it is then, we will There is no room for redress, and I hope you understand that.

Aldridge's words were very contagious and convincing. The players cheered up. The head coach stood up at this time and told them: We are on the right path, but we haven't reached the end yet. on the way. Naturally there will be setbacks. Today is.

after the game. Aldridge was on the cusp. After all, he lost to a second-tier European team at home. England seemed to be beaten back to its original shape overnight, becoming a paper tiger that made fans toss and turn worried and couldn't sleep.

Hall paid dearly for his underestimation!

A humiliating loss! It's time for the England team to cheer up!

The turmoil lasted for a few days. When Aldridge returned to the club, he changed back to the young coach of the Wild Lions who was admired by everyone.

Fleet Street is also funny enough. A few days ago, he was still sneering and sneering at him, belittling Aldridge to nothing. What arrogance, superciliousness, lack of experience in the international arena, etc., it seems that he is full of shortcomings.

In less than three days, Fleet Street began to flatter Aldrich again.

Young Marshal led the Wild Lions into the countdown to the Premier League's four consecutive championships!

Middlesbrough can't stop the strong Lions,

The young coach is aiming for the first championship of the new year, the League Cup!

The 27th round of the Millwall Premier League is scheduled to be held in the morning. At the same time, the FA also announced that in two days, Millwall will play the 28th round.

This is what Millwall applied to the FA. Apply before game day.

They adjust the schedule, not to push the game back. On the contrary, it is to bring the game forward, because next weekend, they will play the League Cup final against Blackburn.

The opponent in the 28th round is Aston Villa. The FA consulted Aston Villa and got the consent of Aston Villa. Probably, they think that Millwall will play twice in 3 days, Middles Fort first consumes them a game, and then the possibility of them defeating the Lions at home will greatly increase.

Millwall can't help it, the schedule is too fucking dense!

There are two league games in 3 days on the weekend, the Champions League in the middle of next week, and the League Cup final on the weekend, which is actually 4 games in 8 days!

If the Wild Lions do not adjust the schedule, then the 28th round of the league will be played later, and it is estimated that it will be in the same situation. After all, there is the FA Cup.

In the final analysis, it is the competition system of the Champions League and the local competition system of England.

The top 16 of the Champions League will have to play 6 games to determine the top 8, just as England's FA Cup kicks off.

But it wasn't just England that suffered. The strong teams in other leagues also began to feel overwhelmed. After a season, there were too many games.

There have already been voices in G14 who raised objections, represented by Millwall, who hope to unite the internal forces to put pressure on UEFA and reform the competition system again, but it is very difficult to completely unify the internal opinions of G14. After all, there is only one league champion in each country. , If you can participate in the Champions League and play a few more games, you can make a lot of money. This is a conflict of interests, not a rational discussion.

Perhaps affected by the match day, Millwall failed to win Middlesbrough when they sent the main players to play at home.

Two days later, Millwall was a guest at Villa Park. The main players rested and came off the bench. Aston Villa, which was gearing up to beat Millwall at home, was defeated by Millwall's substitute lineup with a score of 3:1.

Two days later, Millwall ushered in the challenge of Galatasaray at home, and the main force, who had recovered, won the Turkish giants 2-0 at the Lion King Stadium without bloodshed.

Next, the Millwall team went to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff to usher in the first decisive battle of the new year, the League Cup final.

In the past three games, the outside world has seen a small pattern. Millwall played these three games in the form of rotation between the main force and the substitute. It's the turn of the League Cup final, and it should be time to come off the bench. After all, Millwall still has the Champions League mission in the middle of next week. It is obvious that Millwall has greater ambitions for the Champions League now.

At the pre-match press conference, reporters also asked about this.

In your coaching career for nearly eight years, except for the second year when you won the double cup with the main lineup, Millwall will train new players in the cup. If you can reach the final, Millwall will Send all the main players to play, tomorrow is the final of the League Cup, will Millwall still send the main players to the game? But they just played a Champions League game two days ago, and they will face Bovista four days later, their physical strength is no problem ?.

Aldridge replied honestly: I will give a lot of young people a chance on the starting list for tomorrow's game. I think this season is our harvest season. It doesn't mean that we have won the Charity Shield, the Super Cup, the Toyota Cup, etc. Kudos. But refers to. I am very happy to see the progress and maturity of young players like Villa, Alonso, Kaka, De Rossi, Metzelder, etc. Now, I think there are some players in them Being able to stand on the stage of the final is not to feel the atmosphere. It is to have enough strength to show your talents on that stage, use your ability to help the team win honors, and make greater contributions to the team. Millwall has There are a lot of games, and we still have tough battles. It is necessary to allocate players' physical fitness reasonably, especially, considering that there is still the World Cup waiting for them. As the coach, I have the responsibility and obligation to make them have enough energy to cope with the upcoming World Cup.

The content of Aldridge's interview was to send out a signal and tell Blackburn. Millwall will not field their strongest team in the final.

For this information, the Blackburn coach shook his head. Responded: Hall is a head coach who is very good at psychological warfare. I think he is releasing smoke bombs. He is trying to disrupt our deployment of the game. I don't believe he will do that. You know, tomorrow's game In the final, if you win, you can take away the championship trophy. If you lose, no one will sympathize with him. He puts the pressure on young players. This is questionable. Therefore, he will definitely send the strongest team in the final according to the previous practice.

It has to be said that Aldridge's remarks made the outside world suspicious. Millwall, known as the trophy harvester, came to the final without the strongest lineup, that is, to win the trophy with the highest probability. Is it possible?

Even Fleet Street didn't believe Aldridge's rhetoric, they had the same attitude as Blackburn: this he-mother is a smoke bomb! Whoever is fooled will write!

The next day, Millwall and Blackburn met at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Two hours before the game, the studios of the live broadcast unit and the reporters who reported on the spot got the starting lists of both sides.

Basically, there will be no major changes to this list, unless a certain player is unwell during the warm-up and is temporarily adjusted out of the list.

After seeing Millwall's starting line-up, almost all Fleet Street journalists were stunned

damn it!

Aldrich's tricks of falsehood drove reporters crazy.

Millwall sent half of the main team and half of the team as substitutes.

smoke bomb?

Sorry, everything Aldrich said is true.

They underestimated Aldridge's integrity. It is true that sometimes he will play tricks and set off smoke bombs, but once he makes a promise to the players, he will definitely fulfill it. This is related to the character of the coach to win the trust of the team.

As he said before the game, he would give the youngsters a chance to play in the finals, praised their progress this season, and then? smoke bomb? Don't give them a chance? Players watch the news too, won't they be disappointed? They became Aldrich's pawns to confuse the enemy, won't they have negative emotions?

Therefore, Aldridge is telling the truth, and he will take it very seriously when it comes to specific player arrangements.

The Millennium Stadium was occupied by fans from both sides and local Welsh fans today. Millwall fans attached great importance to this final. No matter how small a mosquito is, it is meat. Millwall has not been involved in the League Cup for more than two years. As the king of England, one For a dynastic team, fans naturally hope that they will not miss the best of the trophies they can get.

Players from both sides line up to enter the field.

The 2001-02 English League Cup final is about to begin. This season's performance is still strong. It can be said that it is the strongest Millwall team in these years. Finally, it has returned to the League Cup final. Their opponent Blackburn wants to win from Millwall. It is not easy for Wall to snatch the trophy. Before the game, there were many speculations about Millwall's starting lineup today. Now that the players have entered the field, there must be no mistakes. Let me introduce Millwall's starting lineup.

Goalkeeper: Pagliuca

Defenders: Schneider, Materazzi, Southgate, Zambrotta.

Midfield: Gattuso, Alonso, Kaka.

Forwards: Villa, Klose, Lamour

That's right, this is half the team's main force and half the team's substitute. Although it is a mix and match, it is also well organized.

Aldridge uses the main defense, with the offense of the substitute, at least, so that he has a bottom line. (to be continued...) ()